Tag search result

House lawmakers will consider a revamped plan to provide taxpayer dollars to help send public school students to private schools.

Rep. Rob Bryan, a Charlotte Republican and lead sponsor of House Bill 944, said the new provisions help address concerns about accountability by requiring schools that receive more than $300,000 in voucher money to submit to an audit. Another part of the bill requires schools with more than 25 voucher students to report aggregate test scores.

The maximum voucher is $4,200 for a child who is eligible for free or reduced lunches, or $3,780 for families with income at 133 percent of the threshold that qualifies for the federal program.

SENATE BUDGET TIME: The state Senate released a $20.58 billion proposed budget late Sunday night that would eliminate class-size limits for the youngest public school students, move the State Bureau of Investigation to a department the governor’s appointee controls and puts various environmental programs under the control of a state agency. The proposal represents a 2.3 percent increase over the current budget and is about $17 million short of the budget Gov. Pat McCrory proposed in March.

Senate budget writers will hold a press conference at 10:30 a.m. to discuss it in more detail. Full Senate votes are expected later this week. More here.

NCGA PROTESTERS CHALLENGE CHARGES: As protesters gear up to assemble again Monday to highlight concerns about welfare cuts, health care funding, voting rights, racial justice, tax reform, environmental deregulation, workers rights and more, legal analysts are raising questions about whether the General Assembly police are within their power to arrest the nonviolent demonstrators. Irv Joyner, a law professor at N.C. Central University who has observed the demonstrations, said legal challenges of the arrests are being drafted. “We think we have clear-cut First Amendment issues,” Joyner said. Full story.

***Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo -- more North Carolina politics to start your week below. Send tips to dome@newsobserver.com***

What North Carolina company wanted to use Islamic Sharia law? A: The private military contractor Blackwater.

On Thursday, the state House has passed a bill to eliminate the use of Sharia law in North Carolina. Opponents of Sharia like Rep. John Blust of Greensboro say Islamic law threatens to how North Carolinians marry, divorce and determine child custody: “It’s creeping, but it is stated within those who are pushing it, that is their goal: to have this type of law rule the world."

The former North Carolina company Blackwater had a different aim in mind back in 2006. They wanted to use Sharia to escape responsibility for a botched flight that killed three soldiers and the flight crew. Under Sharia law, employers are not liable for harm done by their employees. Federal judges opted to stick with U.S. law, despite the company's entreaties. Blackwater and its insurers settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount. --Joseph Neff, staff writer

The divide between legislative Republicans about how to revamp the state’s tax code became clear Thursday, as House leaders unveiled a dueling plan, calling it a more measured approach.

The House legislation (Read it here.) offers smaller income tax cuts in exchange for fewer new taxes on services. Supporters pledged it would give a break to all taxpayers but the numbers remain unclear. It contrasts greatly with a sweeping Senate proposal that some experts believe could leave many people with a tax hike, a point its supporters dispute.

“We think our tax plan is a lot simpler in terms of the expansion of the sales tax base,” said state Rep. David Lewis, a Dunn Republican leading the effort. “We think it makes sense to people.”

Just before midnight Wednesday, the House adjourned. Republican leaders saved a number of controversial measures for the end with a measure to reject Sharia law as the grand finale of the night. The lawmakers spent about 10 hours on the floor. Most bills were approved, such as an ALEC-drawn measure to exempt food companies from liability lawsuits, nga bill asserting religious freedom and another to require health insurers to cover autism. Two bills were shot down: a bill to create a new kind of corporations and a bill to grant local law enforcement officers whistleblower protections. (See a more detailed roundup in the morning.

The House returns at 11:30 a.m. to consider the final measures in crossover week and thankfully, it won't be too long of a day, leaders said. But it does start early with appropriatiosn and finance committee meetings.

Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday tried to fight legislation backed by Gov. Pat McCrory to curb civil service protections for state employees -- a day after they missed the bill on the calendar and inadvertently voted to give it preliminary approval.

House Bill 834 received a 110-5 vote Tuesday. But Democrats mounted an effort to amend the measure Wednesday, trying to limit the number of political appointments the governor's office can make for state positions and add protections for workers who are cut under a reorganization plan.

All three failed. But the final vote to approve the bill was much closer at 74-40. A Democratic lawmaker said caucus members didn't realize what the bill did when they voted for it a day earlier.

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: As the final two days of the self-imposed crossover deadline begin, it's crunch time. You can tell from the lobbyists working the halls, either trying to get a bill to move or asking committee chairman to "pray on it" for a little while longer. And the controversial bills are coming the surface. A House committee will consider a bill to extend "protections of conscience" to more medical professionals and cover more things, such as providing contraception. In the same committee, another measure dubbed the "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" is sure to recall attempts earlier this session to declare the state's ability to establish an official religion.

The full House - which convenes near 2 p.m. -- will also consider a bill to soften rules on where local governments must post public notices. A controversial amendment would tell newspapers how much they could charge for such advertisements. The Senate this afternoon will consider measures to amend environmental regulations and repeal local smoking bans. Gov. Pat McCrory is spending another day in New Orleans at a Republican Governor's Association event.

WOS ROADSHOW CONTINUES: A week after a major gaffe by Health and Human Services Secretary Aldona Wos, her statewide tour to tout Medicaid reforms continues. She visits Durham on Wednesday where she will encounter members of the Medical Professionals for Expanded Health Access who expect to question her about the state's decision to reject a Medicaid expansion. Wos blamed Democratic Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin for the decision -- even though it was ultimately made by her boss, Gov. Pat McCrory. The event starts at 4 p.m.

***Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo -- a roundup of North Carolina political news and notes. Send tips to dome@newsobserver.com.***

House lawmakers watered down the spirits bill Monday. (Dah-dah dun!)

A measure that would have allowed the state's distilleries to sell liquor on its tours -- much as breweries and wineries do -- now just calls for a study of the issue, rather than its legalization.

A House committee stripped the original bill (HB842) and approved the eight-member Study Committee on Spirituous Liquor Sales by Distilleries to Tour Patrons to analyze its feasibility. The report is due when the legislature convenes in 2014.

A study committee is progress for the measure, but still a blow to places like Topo Distillery in Chapel Hill, which makes its own vodka, gin and wheat whiskey, and Covington Spirits in Snow Hill, which makes vodka from sweet potatoes. No word yet on when, or where, the committee may meet. But the "fact-finding" missions ought to be fun.

The House Education Committee is set to hear a bill Tuesday allowing parents to spend taxpayer money on K-12 private school tuition.

Rep. Marcus Brandon, a High Point Democrat and one of the bill's primary sponsors, said there have been some changes to the original bill.

The bill as filed would have offered vouchers worth $4,200 a year. In the second year, children from families with incomes of 300 percent of the federal poverty level or below would qualify. This year, that income translates to $58,590 for a family of three. Brandon said the revision tightens the income guidelines and will have 50 percent of the money each year reserved for children from families at 185 percent of the federal poverty level or below. That's the level at which kids in a family would qualify for free or reduced lunch in public schools.

"It's a drastic improvement over what everybody first saw," Brandon said. The bill also lowers the income ceiling, he said. "You can't make more than $45,000 and get it."

That's what House Rules Committee Chairman Tim Moore jokingly called a revised bill that would change the composition of state boards and commissions and purge some of their Democratic appointees.

The House and Senate got hung up on Senate Bill 10 last month over a provision that would fire Special Superior Court Judges. The Senate wanted to get rid of them, the House wanted to keep them.

The new House bill removes the judge firings, and eliminates sections on the State Board of Elections and the Utilities Commission.